How many religious corpses do you have on your church roles?
Is your church full of stained glass Christians or street suffering Christians? Is your church full of dirt poor Christians or filthy rich Christians? James asserts that dirt poor Christians are first citizens of his kingdom, his favorites.
James writes with the bluntness of an OT prophet. Listen to some selected verses from chapter two (The Message):
"Isn't it obvious that God-talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense?"
"Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove."
"You believe in one God. Demons do that."
"Faith fruitful in works [Jubilee justice works]."
"The very moment you separate body and spirit, you end up with a corpse. Separate faith and works [of justice] and you get the same thing, a [religious] corpse."
When there are no works of Jubilee justice, the defective church allows oppression to run wild, creating and traumatizing the poor, creating the arrogant rich.
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